San Francisco County Biographies
WILLIAM F. NELSON
Transcribed 1-25-05 Marilyn R. Pankey.
This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm
One of the early business men of San Francisco, came to the
city in 1850. He is a native of Denmark, born in 1828, and came to the United
States when a small boy. He resided three years in New York, with an uncle,
then went to sea as a sailor boy, and sailed constantly until twenty-one years
of age; spent twenty months on a whaling ship and passed through many severe
storms at sea, and when eighteen years of age was the mate of his ship. When he
came to California he came as a sailor, at $1 per month, that is to say, he
worked his passage; so many people were coming to this coast that the ships were
manned in that way.
After arriving in San Francisco, he was engaged in steamboating on the
Sacramento river, from San Francisco to Sacramento and Marysville, and return.
He then went to the mines at Coloma and on the north fork of the Feather river.
After a few months spent in the mines, without great success, he returned to
Sacramento and worked at $18 per month in the mercantile establishment of
Simons, Tyler & Co. After spending a year and a half with them he started on
his own account, in Sacramento, an ice-cream saloon, met with good success and
accumulated in about two years $30,000. On November 21, 1852, the great fire
nearly consumed the whole city. He, with many others suffered heavily in the
fire. He started his business again, but the inhabitants felt the effects of
the fire, and he did not do as much business. Soon afterward the great flood
came upon them, and in the spring of that year, 1853, he came to San Francisco
and for fifteen years kept a restaurant and hotel. In 1868 he started his first
store, hardware and crockery and a part of the time while in business in San
Francisco he resided in Alameda county, at Alvarado.
He was united in marriage to Sarah Smithcyst, a native of New Jersey. They
had two sons, born in San Francisco: one died when a year old, and the other,
William A., is now his father's partner in the hardware and crockery business.
Mrs. Nelson died, and he was married the second time, to Antona Tintman, and
they had one daughter, Emma. This wife also died, and Mr. Nelson was again
married, and has two more children, Lucy and Harry.
Since 1853 he has resided or had his business constantly on Jackson street
in this city. During his career here he has been the owner of much valuable city
property, and has done his share in building up the city. He obtained the
franchise for the Sutter street railroad, one of the first street railroads in
the city. He furnished the first means to start it. Mr. Nelson has met with
several heavy losses, but through no fault of his own, and he is just as worthy
a citizen as if he had kept all of the money he has made during his long
business career. In politics he is a Democrat, and has taken a high degree of
intelligent interest in the affairs of the country. He is a member, and has
been one of the directors, of the Territorial Pioneer Society of California, and
he still takes a deep interest in the State in which he has lived since it was
admitted to the Union.
Source: "The Bay of San Francisco," Vol. 1, pages 692-693, Lewis Publishing Co,
1892.